Viewfinder: Housing the Homeless

"Together, we can and will house the homeless," said Hilary Barroga of .

A press conference along with an event, "Project Homeless Connect" took place this morning at San Jose City Hall to bring to an end a week's worth of effort to survey the existing homeless population in the county of Santa Clara.

A total of 350 volunteers from throughout the county, including officers from Campbell, Los Gatos, Milpitas, Mountain View and Santa Clara police departments came out June 27 through June 29 between 4:30 and 6 a.m. to go out into the communities and survey more than 700 homeless people on the streets and in shelters.

Services including dental, medical and legal were provided that morning at no cost to all those that came. Individuals were also able to get information on housing, social security and education.

The Day Worker Center of Mountain View as well as Campbell's Health Trust were both at hand providing information to those stopping by.

West Valley Community Services in Cupertino were handing out travel-sized toiletries and information.

The Tzu Chi (meaning "compassion" and "relief") Foundation out of San Jose was providing free haircuts to everyone as well. The organization offers free hot breakfasts every Sunday in San Jose, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale and Milpitas.

"These people are wonderful," says Tracy Gatliff, who was getting her hair cut.

Gatliff sleeps under a bridge at night and attends Evergreen Valley Community College by day.

"I'm their biggest fan," she says.